Harmy's STAR WARS Despecialized Edition HD - V2.7 - MKV (Released) — Page 108

Harmy, just as a little test, I just opened up photoshop and created a 500x500 pixel image with the background selected as white and then uploaded the image here below. This is what white looks like on my monitor, does it look white to you as well?:

I don't know about Harmy, but that looks white to me.

Harmy said:

Well, I never had any professional calibration done, since it's hard to do anything like that on a laptop but it seems to generally show what most people agree on.

A true professional calibration is probably impossible yes, since most laptops lack advanced setup properties for the screen itself, but a normal fast auto-calibration using a colorimeter works fine, I've done it on a laptop myself.

Harmy said:

EDIT: Well, according to this article, my monitor is quite well calibrated but it has terrible viewing angle and bad response time.

Actually that's basic setup, not really calibration. Calibration is when you have a colorimeter or equivalent on your screen which measures the greyscale and colors and sets them up so they display as close as possible to a reference, in this case Rec.709 since it's HD film material we're working with.

If you're interested, google for X-rite i1 Display, it's one of the best price vs performance brands.

Harmy said:

I think the way you see colours also greatly depends at how long have you already been staring at your monitor, sometimes I colour-grade something in the evening and it looks fine and then I look again in the morning and it looks off.

I agree. If I work on a photo or video with changing or correcting colors for too long, I get slightly "colorblind". It's always good to leave it for a while and take a look again.

Harmy said:

Another thing is that letting photoshop balance the image will probably make it look more natural, which isn't always necessarily correct for the film.

Yeah, I just did that to fix the earlier "mistake" of posting a photo that was not color balanced. Just like have been stated before, even the original prints are inconsistent with color, so naturally it's up to you as the "director" to choose how you want it to look. I just thought maybe the photo would be good for seeing how the walls and skintones really looked.

OMEN!-_-! said:

Your whites are still a little yellow there You_Too (at least on my monitor) but I like the flesh tones here the most of the three so it definately gets a thumbs up from me. Has your monitor been colour calibrated as well?

I calibrated my monitor using an X-rite i1 Display 2, not too long ago, which I bought used, mainly to calibrate my TV but I also did the computer monitor and laptop while I was at it. Anyway, like I said I didn't do that color correction by eye but let photoshop auto-balance it. I took a point sample on the wall just in front of Vader's eyes and it came out RGB 247/247/247. And I think it looks pretty neutral overall now too.

Either way, the eye can have a hard time seeing a difference between shades of white in a picture. Look here:

This picture is divided into 4 squares, the upper left being tinted red, upper right green, lower left blue and lower right pure white. I bet on some monitors it's even impossible to see the difference because of the monitor itself.

Harmy said:

And Yoo_Too, you had me believe that those pictures I reposted above were from two different shots, whereas actually they're from one and the colour-timing of the one on the left is only there for the first two frames just before a huge blinding flash, so it is virtually unnoticeable unless viewed frame by frame.

Actually, the tint in the first one begins with this shot:

Then it changes at the shot I showed you and continues when 3PO and R2 run across the screen.

Harmy said:

You_Too said:

And in my opinion the change in this point is very visible too, especially on a calibrated screen:

And these pics are a nice example - they are clearly inconsistent but should I change the one on the left to look like the one on the right or vice versa?

My personal taste would lean towards the colour-timing of the one on the right, because it's more white than the left one, which has a blue/cyan tint but I think the left one is closer to the original, so I'll probably go with that.

The pic on the right looks closer to the production photo, and so is probably more naturally photographic, but the left pic is definitely closer to the film's actual colour timing.  The reason I say this is because it distinctly reminds me of the 70mm film scan of this scene, and also of the GOUT's appearance when its saturation has been increased and the red shift reduced.

The original films did seem to have a somewhat blue tint in some places.  As has been pointed out, this is very different from the hideous cyan which the 2004 transfer pasted over everything.

Harmy,

I watched your workprint and was surprised, how much detail is visible. I thought I saw some dirt on the boot of the one or the other stormtrooper that I never noticed before. I may be wrong, but in one scene I think I can see that Hamill has a few ret dots in face, seems like he was in a rush when he shaved that morning before he went to the set ;-)

I had to compare it with the bluray and I can see it there too, just didn't notice that before. I think your colour timing shows those fine things better than the SE bluray. These fine details show on what a cool release you are working.

I found one thing that I like post here:

For me the rock in the distance behind the sandcrawler seems to glow a littlebit neon-blue. I just wanted to point you on this, maybe you want to fix that.

I like to post a request here for the lasers in the opening shot.

For me the unaltered Star Wars movie has these wonderful shining lasers in the opening scene when the Tantive tries to escape from the imperial ship.

A significant "fingerprint" for the SE is the the orange laser shots from the Tantive are thinner and not so brilliant in colour anymore.

Here is a shot from the GOUT (Puggo's 16mm release has the same shining laser shots too):

Here is the same shot with the "SE fingerprint":

Are you planning to change that? To be honest, in my opinion when I watch the unaltered version of Star Wars and I see the bright shining lasers in the opening scene I know that this is the "real" version.

I wasn't able to look here often the last few weeks and must say that I lost a littlebit track. So I'm not sure if you plan to edit one or another thing or if editing stage is completed.

At last here comes the pic of Hamill I was referring to:

Arent't there a few red dots on his cheek?

Sorry for posting these big pictures in your threat, but how can I post them as thumbnails?

Harmy said:

Also, at first I only saw that square as white but when I focused and took a closer look, I can clearly see those tints. Should it be obvious at first sight on a properly calibrated monitor?

Even on a calibrated monitor it can sometimes be hard for the human eye to see the difference between shades of white like that, and that's one reason why color correction can be difficult when it comes to shades of white, especially if trying to find a neutral look.

Oh, and good news about the lasers!

I'm not sure if it's a glitch or part of the original composite work, but in the last shot of the escape pod flying towards Tatooine the garbage matte seems to distort some of the stars as it flies by. It starts around 7:06 or so. It's most noticable the closer the pod gets to the planet.

Oldschooljedi said:

I watched your workprint and was surprised, how much detail is visible.

Oh, man, yes. Check out this shot. Look at the Stormtrooper just to the left of Leia. He has a #2 stamped on his chest that I would have never noticed without the high quality (and intense scrutiny).

http://i.imgur.com/Rh9Kc.jpg

I guess we finally know who #2 works for, eh? :)

On a serious note, as a couple of others have mentioned, I think it's possible the  interior Tantive IV scene could use just a touch more blue in some places. I noticed that Leia looked bit strange here (lip color looks kind of brown, for instance; more obvious to me when in motion), and rasing the blues slightly in GIMP seemed to even it out. Just a suggestion, though. I continue to have confidence in your abilities.

My display is calibrated using an HD calibration disc (DVE HD Basics) and color filters, but only by eyesight and not with a colorimeter, FWIW. I noticed the separate colors on You-too's whites quite easily. First as two distinct halves, and then as quadrants as I paid closer attention. 

-DT

If it's still possible to get links to this workprint, I'd appreciate it. I have plenty of time to dissect this!

I also think putting a bit of blue back in would set off the whites nicely.

Wow, that new Tantive 4 laser is pretty lame.  I can't wait to see the original beam with the separate core element, put back in.

Darth Tater said:

Oh, man, yes. Check out this shot. Look at the Stormtrooper just to the left of Leia. He has a #2 stamped on his chest that I would have never noticed without the high quality (and intense scrutiny).

http://i.imgur.com/Rh9Kc.jpg

I guess we finally know who #2 works for, eh? :)

 

Wow, I din't notice that before. I also noticed that the amor on the left arm of the left stormtrooper is fixed with a adhesive tape.

From what I understand George doesn't like these things and wanted to edit them out of 'his' movies.

In Mr. Lucas opinion Star Wars is about a boy, a girl and a universe, about a father and a son and a galaxy far, war away.

I agree with Mr. Lucas there but in my opinion Star Wars is also matte painting, costumes, stop-motion, spaceship models, true little explosions etc.

Mr. Lucas has stolen a lot of stop-motion, real explosions, real costumes etc out of the movies with his SE, because a lot these elements are replaced by virtually, non-existing computer animated elements.

Harmy gives brings back this physical feel of Star Wars.

Sorry for spamming your threat here Harmy, but I just had to say that.

I loved the workprint! My face was like... 8-O

Anyway, I think the skintones are too yelow, maybe adjusting the Hue you can fix this. And the general picture needs a little more contrast, I think...

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About the opening titles, I think that 20th century logo is too yelow and too bright. Here is my sugestion:

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The Lucasfilm logo is not so good as your the preview on youtube.

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*Things that I loved: no more-> crushed blacks, lobster-men, blue tinted walls (Tantive IV), red tinted sand (Tatooine), "Look sir droids" scene & "Mos Eisley spaceport" scene.